After the recent award of orders to Asturian companies worth € 200 million and the start of construction of 130 MW of wind power in the region, it launched a Citizen Innovation Platform to channel entrepreneurship initiatives and a waste recovery project.
Iberdrola has defined the axes of its contribution to socio-economic development around the energy transition in Asturias in three areas of action: more investments in renewables, support for job creation through the generation of opportunities and contracts for the industry local and new innovation projects, such as the creation of a Citizen Innovation Platform to channel entrepreneurship initiatives.
Last week, the company announced the awarding of contracts to six Asturian companies (Windar, Tensa, Isotrón (Grupo Isastur), Gonvarri Solar Steel, Asturmadi Reneergy and Asturfeito) for new renewable projects and the deployment of smart power grids. These projects train Asturian companies to participate in the development of future sectors in Spain and international markets and allow the generation of thousands of jobs in the region.
These awards, together with the contract signed a month ago with Windar, represent orders of close to 200 million euros and multiply by four the average purchase from Asturian suppliers made by the company annually. In the last 18 months, the contracts awarded by Iberdrola to local companies have accelerated, reaching 300 million euros.
New investments in renewables that will triple its installed capacity in the region
Iberdrola’s commitment to consolidating an energy model for the future in Asturias is completed with the acceleration of new investments in wind projects in the region.
The company develops four wind farms, totaling 130 MW of power, with which it will triple its renewable capacity installed so far in the region. The investment destined to the development of these projects amounts to more than 100 million euros and will generate employment for some 1,200 people, based on PNIEC estimates *.
The four wind farms will be integrated by SG114 wind turbines, with 2.62 MW of unit power: Cordel-Vidural wind farm (37 MW) is located between the municipalities of Navia, Valdés and Villayón; Capiechamartín (34 MW) is located between Tineo and Valdés; Verdigueiro (36 MW) rises between Tineo and Villayón and Panondres (21 MW) between Villayón and Valdés.
The construction of these wind power projects is already contributing to revitalize the local and national industrial fabric, as well as employment in the region, since practically all field work and civil works are being carried out by Asturian companies, such as Hormavasa and Horvalsa, Rencanos, Deymet, Excade, Posada, Méndez and Mota quarries, Gruas Roxu and Taxus; The promotion is being carried out by ERPASA and the manufacture of the wind turbines will take place in Windar (Avilés) and in other Siemens Gamesa facilities, in Somozas (Galicia), Ágreda (Soria), Reinosa (Cantabria) and Lerma (Burgos).
Citizen Innovation Platform to channel entrepreneurship initiatives
Iberdrola’s green recovery plan for Asturias includes the implementation of a Citizen Innovation Platform to channel entrepreneurship initiatives, in the key of innovation for the energy transition, that act as an accelerator of collaboration processes between citizens, entities public and companies.
The fundamental objective of this initiative is to transform the area into a space for advanced experimentation that encourages entrepreneurs and startups who value settling in the area, studying financing options for R & D & I initiatives by local suppliers.
The company will make available to the community a team made up of academics from the LAC-Euskampus-University of the Basque Country and the Polytechnic University of Madrid, integrated into the EIT Climate-KIC, a knowledge and innovation network, dependent on the European Institute of Innovation and Technology, dedicated to accelerating the transition to a decarbonised economy.
Initiatives in this field also include the promotion of educational and informative programs, aimed both at Dual Vocational Training, and at institutes and universities in the region, with the aim of improving employability.
Through different formulas – agreements with local institutions, the ‘Iberdrola U’ program for young entrepreneurship and training activities at the Iberdrola Campus in smart solutions related to electric mobility, self-consumption and air conditioning – the company will promote the employability of young people and local professionals with the aim of turning them into active actors in the energy transition.
Circular economy and waste recovery
The transformation of the region will include other projects, including one related to the circular economy, through the recovery of waste through the recycling of ash, slag and gypsum, in order to transform them into new materials for the construction sector. .
The actions will be completed with more investments in the field of sustainable mobility, with the deployment of recharging infrastructure for the electric vehicle, as well as with the analysis of innovation projects related to new technologies, such as storage, the production of green hydrogen , etc.
Likewise, the dismantling work of the Lada thermal plant in the next four and a half years will allow collaboration with local suppliers to continue, whose involvement in these associated tasks will represent a greater volume than they currently maintain.
Bet on clean, sustainable and competitive technologies
At the end of 2017, Iberdrola requested the authorization to close its last thermal power plants in the world, located in Velilla (Palencia) and Lada (Asturias), in response to its decision to replace CO2-emitting facilities with state-of-the-art clean energy and Thus leading the energy transition towards a new sustainable energy model. The company aims to have virtually zero emissions intensity in Europe by 2030 and aims to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 globally.
Since 2001, Iberdrola has shut down 17 coal and fuel oil thermal power plants in the world – the last two in Spain – which add up to more than 8,500 MW and make it the largest electricity company in the world without coal production.
This commitment to green recovery has led him to commit record investments this year of 10,000 million euros in renewable energy, smart grids and large-scale storage systems, after having allocated 25,000 million euros since 2001 in Spain – they rise to 100,000 million euros in the world-, which have allowed the generation of 80,000 * jobs in the country.
Iberdrola is the leader in renewable energy in Spain, with an installed wind capacity of more than 6,000 MW and more than 16,600 renewable MW; a volume that in the world rises to 32,700 MW, which make its generation park one of the cleanest in the energy sector.
